The facilities that the Essity group has found in Barcelona to access highly specialized and trained talent in the supply chain and logistics operations has determined that the Swedish group implements from the city a new operating model for the planning of supplies to all its customers worldwide. For this reason, from the center of excellence located in the company's facilities in Sant Joan Despí, the 200 warehouses that the company owns in 150 countries will be coordinated, from which nearly 3,000 full truckloads leave every working day.
The new logistics operation will allow the Essity group to make better demand forecasts from customers and optimize the performance of the supply chain, thanks in part to a strong technological commitment. "We have opted for the implementation of new technologies, artificial intelligence systems and a unique management system that allows us to standardize processes to be increasingly efficient with the use of our resources," explains José Ramón Iracheta, Country Manager of Essity Iberia, with the idea of emphasizing that the manufacturer seeks maximum efficiency at all levels.
The Swedish company already has 60 people working in this center ---50 of whom are new hires--- and plans to incorporate around 40 people each year until 2024.
The commitment to the Iberia division of the multinational also responds to its strategic location, since currently France and Spain are two of its three main markets in Europe. In 2020, the markets of Spain and Portugal occupied the seventh position globally in the group and contributed 4% of global sales, which reached 12,000 million euros.
The center, with an initial staff of 60 people, will coordinate the 200 warehouses that the company owns in 150 countriesSpecifically, in Spain, the manufacturer recorded net sales of 532 million euros in 2020. Currently, it is present in the market with a workforce of 1,200 employees (out of the group's 46,000), distributed in three production plants in the town of Puigpelat (Tarragona) ---international logistics center---, Allo (Navarra) and Telde (Canary Islands), and commercial offices in Madrid, Lisbon and Sant Joan Despí, which now adds the logistics center of excellence.
Since it arrived in Spain in 1998, the group headquartered in Stockholm (Sweden) has been positioning itself as a supplier of hygiene and health products for large distribution chains, hotels, pharmacies or hospitals, through its various brands, including Tena, Colhogar, Demak'Up and Tork, as well as Jobst, Leukoplast, Libero, Libresse, Lotus, Nosotras, Regio, Saba, Tempo, Vinda and Zewa.
Essity -formerly known as SCA- managed to strengthen its position in the international market in 2012 with the acquisition of the European tissue paper business of the multinational Georgia-Pacific, manufacturer of napkins, toilet paper, tissues, kitchen paper and personal care products (baby diapers), which in Spain had production facilities in Allo (Navarra).
The amalgam of products with significant penetration in the Spanish domestic market has allowed Essity to become one of the main suppliers of large distribution chains in Spain, including Mercadona, for which it is also a manufacturer of tissue products for this distributor's brand, Bosque Verde.